On April 18, 2008, the President signed into law (Public Law 110-200) a bill to extend certain trade provisions of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 another week to April 25, 2008 (from April 18, 2008). (See ITT's Online Archives or 04/18/08 news, 08041815, for BP summary of the House and Senate passage of the bill.) (White House statement, dated 04/18/08, available at

The European Commission Wednesday approved the proposed Vivendi Games-Activision merger, (CED Dec 4 p3) which would create the largest third-party games publisher. The merger won’t “significantly impede effective competition,” the EC said. Activision Blizzard “would continue to face several strong effective competitors,” including Electronics Arts and console manufacturers Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony Computer Entertainment, which also publish games, it said. It studied the vertical relationship between Vivendi via its Universal Music Group unit in the “upstream market” for licensing music rights and Activision’s activities in the “downstream market” for game publishing, the commission said, noting that game publishers license music rights for use in games, especially music games such as Activision’s Guitar Hero titles. But the commission concluded that “the vertical relationship would not give rise to competition concerns, as competing game publishers would continue to have access to a sufficiently large portfolio of music rights from alternative suppliers.” Another point examined was the vertical link between Vivendi and Activision in relation to wholesale distribution of PC games in the U.K.. The EC concluded that the transaction “would not raise competition concerns as alternative distribution channels would continue to exist.” Activision predicted that the merger would close in the first half of 2008. Activision and Vivendi didn’t respond to requests for comment by our deadline. Activision provided more details on its coming Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, saying the first entry in the popular series devoted to one musical act will cost $59.99 for the standalone game on PS3 and Xbox 360, $49.99 for the stand-alone game on Wii and PS2, $99.99 for the bundled game and wireless guitar peripheral on Wii, PS3 and 360, and $89.99 for the bundled PS2 version. The SKU, announced in February, came with no indication at the time there would be any music in the title besides Aerosmith’s (CED Feb 19 p10). But Aaron Habibipour, a producer of the game at developer Neversoft, told Consumer Electronics Daily Wednesday that while 60 percent of the SKU will be Aerosmith songs, the other 40 percent will be songs from acts that influenced Aerosmith or have a link to the band. Activision intends to promote the 60/40 split, a company spokesman said. Also on the SKU are Cheap Trick, Joan Jett, the Kinks and Mott the Hoople, we were told. Singer Steven Tyler and other Aerosmith members worked with the developers on the music used and on the game’s look, including the instruments depicted for each song, Habibipour said. All the Aerosmith songs will be performed by the group, although master tracks for four songs couldn’t be found, so they were re-recorded, he said. The game will include six shorts featuring Aerosmith interviews, each three minutes long, he also said. The game will ship in late June. Asked if Activision plans other Guitar Hero titles around specific musical acts, the company spokesman said “we'll see -- it’s a wait-and-see approach,” but “we're being approached by lots of people, so you never know.” Separately, rival MTV Games said Motley Crue was the first band to release a new single as a downloadable, playable track through game Rock Band. “Saints of Los Angeles” debuted Tuesday as a 99-cent download at the Xbox Live Marketplace and will be added to the PlayStation Store for PS3 Thursday.

Pay-TV companies and home shopping channels disagree over whether the channels should get the low leased-access rates soon to be accorded independent programmers. In replies filed Monday to a commission notice, NCTA and Verizon said the FCC should deny the channels the extremely low rates the agency ordered for community groups and others (CD Special Bulletin Nov 27 p2) leasing system capacity, often by the hour, from pay-TV companies. Two home-shopping channels want the same terms. A group of cable overbuilders including RCN and SureWest predicted Friday that NCTA will prevail in a lawsuit against the FCC over rates for independent programmers. So the group asked the agency to put off imposing the 75 percent cut, set to take effect May 31.

House Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich, grilled Cyren Call over its relationship with the Public Safety Spectrum Trust at a Tuesday hearing. The unusual 15-minute interrogation came at the end of the five-hour hearing on the 700 MHz auction. Dingell, who demanded documents on a $4 million loan Cyren advanced to the PSST, also sought answers about a $50 million estimate Cyren Call and PSST told potential bidders it would take annually to operate the network.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin’s endorsements of a la carte and variants at three events last week (CD April 10 p1, April 9 p1 and p8) drew mixed reactions from cable, programming and other executives. ESPN and cable lawyers said the FCC lacks power to issue any rules paving the way for a la carte, even on the limited basis Martin proposed at one event. NCTA still opposes a la carte rules in any form. The American Cable Association, site of one Martin speech, said his ideas have merit. A la carte proponent Parents TV Council said the FCC may have standing to intervene in the market for programming.

The FCC Thursday cut Syntax-Brillian’s fine for DTV tuner mandate violations 55 percent from the $2.9 million the agency had proposed 11 months ago in a notice of apparent liability (NAL) (CED April 11 p1). Still, Syntax-Brillian “is disappointed with, and intends to seek review of,” the commission action, the company said in a statement.

The Food and Drug Administration has issued an April 2008 guidance for industry, which summarizes the required statements that must appear on food labels under federal laws governing food products under FDA's jurisdiction and their regulations.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has issued its 2008 annual "Section 1377 Review" of the operation and effectiveness of telecommunications trade agreements. According to the USTR, the review identifies barriers facing U.S. telecommunications service and equipment suppliers, evaluates progress towards resolving ongoing problems, and lays out the specific telecommunications-related issues on which the USTR will focus its efforts this year.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Security professionals attacked as misguided Homeland Security Department emphasis on increasing awareness to fight botnets. A senior FBI agent agreed on an RSA Conference panel late Tuesday that federal legislation is needed to battle botnets -- armies of thousands of zombie consumer or business PCs subverted for nefarious purposes ranging from spam and fraud to denial of service attacks and, in theory, terrorism. But the FBI official didn’t go as far as consultant and author Ira Winkler, who argued that the U.S. should ban from the Internet computer users who don’t take security precautions.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is set to move on a 2005 inspector general recommendation to institute a policy on “objectivity and balance” in weighing national programming. Contracting work is set to begin on four of seven requests for proposals on the subject that went out last year. Indicating the difficult task the corporation faces of crafting a policy that’s palatable to public broadcasters, Senior Vice President Michael Levy told the board there were no “takers” among journalism schools for three “critical” papers. The CPB issued the RFPs to get input from academic institutions.